The feud between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and his ex-vice president, Atiku Abubakar, is responsible for the fragmentation of the African Democratic Congress-led opposition coalition, Sunday PUNCH has learnt.
Credible sources in the ADC and Kwankwasiyya Movement confided in our correspondent that Obasanjo’s alleged inability to stop Atiku’s emergence as the ADC presidential candidate was the beginning of the division in the party.
According to a principal officer of the ADC, Obasanjo had allegedly called and instructed some of the party leaders not to allow Atiku to be their candidate if indeed they wanted him to support the party.
“Obi had not even nursed defection at that time. After that discussion with Baba (Obasanjo), Obi’s supporters began the ‘Obi or nobody’ mantra and there was turbulence which we were able to manage.
“However, Baba and Obi interpreted the Ibadan Opposition Coalition Summit to mean that we wanted to fly an Atiku-Makinde presidential ticket. So, they began preparations to exit the party,” the party official said.
